Tennessee chooses Kiffin

[Da Schwab]

Tennessee has reached an agreement with former Oakland Raiders coach Lane Kiffin to take over as the Volunteers' next coach, with an announcement planned for Monday, barring any snags, according to multiple sources.

Kiffin, 33, will be making his college head coaching debut in succeeding Phillip Fulmer, who will coach his last game for the Vols on Saturday.

Tennessee athletic director Mike Hamilton denied reports on Wednesday that Kiffin had been offered a contract. But Kiffin has been at the forefront of the Vols' search for some time.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=3731656

I think this is a great choice, and Kiffin will be best suited in the college game. You would think that his age would enable him to become a great recruiter.

[A.J.]

I was just about to make the post. lol

Good hire by Tennessee. Kiffin is a great recruiter and will help bring some fire back in Vols football.

[GSWbandwagon]

what's the allure of kiffin? he went from vice offensive coordinator for a couple years (and really just gravy training off norm chow's work) to a disaster as head coach of the raiders to landing a very high level college head coaching job. he must just interview really well.

[Da Schwab]

You're going to blame him for the condition of the stagnant cesspool that is the Oakland Raiders?

[GSWbandwagon]

he didn't improve it. gruden did well there, and in his next job he won a superbowl. callahan sucked there, and in his next job stunk it up at nebraska. i don't blame him kiffin for most of the raiders' problems (if only b/c i'm not a raider fan and haven't followed them closely enough to know how much he's responsible for), but i certainly don't think he did anything there that warrants him getting a major coaching job.

disaster was too strong a word probably. unquestioned failure maybe?

[Da Schwab]

Squeezing 4 wins out of the abysmal team that was on the field last year should draw as much merit as 4 wins can get.

[hermes]

good for kiffin, i wish him good luck

[LAKESHOW]

i dont think he should get that tennessee job. on the west coast, we dominate everything west of the mississippi. but we still recruit stuff out of florida, jersey, georgia etc...

but at tennessee, he is not going to have that same recruiting success. there are waaay too many cheating coaches in the sec who recruit heavily in that conference.

but while at USC, weve got the western seaboard locked up.

THE KEY?? recruiting. that is the bottom line in college football. you must win the recruiting battle. that is where the on field battle is won. he will be fighting behind the 8ball with all of those low-life recruiting tactics they pull in the sec. tennessee should not have went after a quality offensive schematics guy, they shouldve went after a big name recruiting guy.

[El Turco]

ya, just ask notre dame fans how successful they ve been last decade with their great recruiting. getting great talent is important but coaching and developing that talent is just as important.

for the record, i dont believe nor get the kiffin hype produced by media but i do think he is going to be an improvement over Phillip Fulmer.

[A.J.]

It looks like Kiffin didnt waste time finding a DC..

http://football.realgm.com/src_wiretap_ ... tennessee/

[craig01]

I am very surprised that UT would risk it's future on Kiffin.

Like others have said, UT has to travel to recruit, and Fulmer's downfall wasn't the X's and O's, but was the lack of play makers and offensive lineman. Hoe does UT expect Kiffin, without any real knowledge or connection to the SE market, expect to turn things around quickly?

Great DC pick up though. Gruden should start packing his bags........the real heart and soul of the Buc's is leaving.